Melbourne High's Student-Built Liberty Bell Turns 50

Melbourne High School celebrated the 50th anniversary of its Liberty Bell monument on May 23, bringing together students, alumni and community members to honor a replica built by students during the nation's Bicentennial.

Building trades students constructed the 11-foot-tall, 1,800-pound bell during the 1975-1976 school year under educator Thaddeus C. Padgett. The team designed and built the monument on campus before mounting it on a concrete base. The school dedicated the bell on June 9, 1976.

Each side of the monument represents one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Four Freedoms: Speech, Worship, Fear and Want. The school relocated the monument to a more prominent campus location in 1997 following renovations.

The bell has served as a gathering spot for generations of students, who used it for photos and school events. The anniversary ceremony recognized both the original builders and the decades of students who gathered around it since 1976.